Apple-y Goodness for Thanksgiving

This is a recipe I learned when my boyfriend and I started dating - oh, about 12 years ago. He swore it was his favorite apple pie ever, and it sounded interesting, so I decided to try it. It was the brown paper bag thing that intrigued me:

Brown Bag Apple Pie

Prerequisite: A brown paper grocery bag. No, I'm not kidding.

Preheat oven to 400F.
While defrosting a premade frozen pie crust:

Filling Ingredients:
5c apples - I usually use Granny Smith
1/2c sugar
2T flour
your favorite apple pie seasoning to taste (I have an all-purpose apple pie spice that has cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and allspice)

Mix sugar, flour, and spice in small bowl and set aside.
Peel, core, and slice apples - I have one of those peeler/corer/slicer thingies that literally makes it a snap to do all this. I used to hate peeling apples.
In a large bowl, combine the apples and sugar/flour/spice until apples are well coated.
Now, here's a matter of preference - some people just like dumping the apples into the pie shell, but I found that doing it that way sometimes makes the pie sag after baking. So I pick apples a couple at a time, and lay them in the pie crust so as to make the best use of the space. Yea, I'm a little OCD sometimes! Ha!

When all the apples are placed in the pie shell, top with the crumbs:

Crumbs:
1/2c sugar
1/2c flour
1/4c butter, at room temperature.

Mix the flour and sugar, then blend with the butter to make coarse crumbs. Spoon over the pie.

Now here's the interesting part.

Lay the bag, open end towards your pie, on a large, rigid cookie sheet. Carefully put the pie in the bag - it helps if it's oriented a little towards the back of the bag, but right in the middle side-to-side. Fold over the top of the bag a little bit and staple to close - I usually staple both ends and once in the middle.

Place on the bottom oven rack and bake at 400F for 1 hour.
Note: MAKE SURE the bag is not touching the heating element or sides of your oven. I cannot stress this enough. I have been neglectful in the past and had a corner of the bag just grazing the top heating element. It almost started a fire. That's why I use the bottommost rack in the oven (even remove the top rack). That way there's enough clearance around the bag. So I repeat, check to make sure the bag is not touching the sides or heating element in your oven.

The bag itself will be safe in the oven (as long as you've made sure it's not touching anything). You will smell singed paper. It usually goes away after a half hour. If you open the oven door to check on it, you may also see smoke/steam. It's nothing to worry about - it's the moisture baking out of the paper bag.

After an hour, carefully remove the cookie sheet/bag from the oven. Let it sit a couple minutes to cool, then rip the bag open to remove the pie. Some filling juice may have boiled over the crust edges making it sticky on the bottom of the pie pan, so it may be useful to get someone to help you - one person holding the bag and one person picking up the pie. Put your pie on a wire rack to cool.

The pie is good warm or cold, so in a couple of hours, sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Happy Thanksgiving!